Time To Put Blue Buffalo On The Special Watch List

[white shadow]

IMO, people who feed Blue Buffalo to their cats might be well-advised to keep (at least one) ear to the ground starting immediately.......

General Mills gets pet-friendly again by buying Blue Buffalo
NEW YORK — Feb 23, 2018, 1:33 PM ET

General Mills said Friday that it plans to buy high-end pet food maker Blue Buffalo....And it joins other food makers in the pet business: Fruit-spread maker The J.M. Smucker Co., for example, owns Kibbles 'n Bits and Meow Mix.........
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/general-mills-buying-blue-buffalo-pet-products-8b-53300074


Now, those of us who have been 'around the block' with the Pet Food Industry will know that this sort of news has a history of not turning out well.........the most recent example being that of the Smucker company (mentioned in the ABC piece as owning Meow Mix etc.).......if you're unfamiliar with the Smucker debacle, it was posted about here: More Pentobarbital In Brands That Include Cat Food

8 billion dollars is one hell-of-a-lot of money.......General Mills isn't in this for philanthropy. GM won't micro-manage nor direct that specific product changes be made at Blue Buffalo. HOWEVER, be assured that BB will be expected to "perform" - better and better and better. That pressure will be passed all the way down the line....to the suppliers. And, at that level, without FDA, state and AAFCO oversight.......history has shown what can be expected.

It's about this time of year that marks the 11th anniversary of the greatest pet food poisoning event North America has ever seen. Day after day after day saw an ever-growing slow-motion tsunami of brand names and types and varieties and lot numbers of cat foods coming at us.........it was an absolute day and night nightmare for all of us.

Vigilance is what saved our cats.....
.

 

[duckpond]

I dont know what changes will happen, i'm sure some will, always do. I personally do not feed any Blue foods, im not a fan. But i know a lot of people do. Hopefully there will not be any negative changes, time will tell, and the watchful eyes of cat parents!

 

[EmmiTemmi]

Okay, but to play devil's advocate, what if it turns out great? General Mills has a ton of resources and contacts that they could add to Blue Buffalo's repertoire. Maybe they can help improve HACCP Plans (if Blue uses them already, or create them if they don't), SSOPs, SOPs, GMPs, ingredient-sourcing, etc. I mean, Blue Buffalo was only founded in 2012, whereas General Mills has 90+yrs of experience to share with them. It could turn out to be a very good change. But I do understand the hesitation from some people, with knowing how these things have played out in the past. And I think General Mills will know this too, and do their best to keep Blue the company that consumers want it to be.

And I suppose, to disclose bias, I should add I do have friends working at General Mills, and I've toured several of their facilities with my Food Science Club during undergrad. Also, my cats strongly dislike Blue so I don't feed it to them anyway.

 

[jclark]

General Mills will slowly mess it up. Eventually someone, probably on this site, will notice a tweak in the ingredients which cheapens the product.

 

[BonitaBaby]

General Mills will slowly mess it up. Eventually someone, probably on this site, will notice a tweak in the ingredients which cheapens the product.

I agree with white shadow and J jclark . I started feeding my cat Blue Buffalo Wilderness kibble last year and have recently started feeding her a few of the Blue Buffalo wet food cans. I expect a change in formulation soon in order to save General Mills money and increase their profits. Please post if you notice a change.

 

[2BSH]

Hmmm. I don’t feed blue buffalo bc I don’t think they are all that great. Too high in fat and phosphorus and my vet told me to more or less stay away bc he has seen more cats than he can count with blockage and urinary problems that were on blue buffalo. If it works for some people; great!!!
That being said I knew something was up when I saw blue buffalo at the supermarket today, as a “ new item”. They had the dry and the wet in the cat food isle. I thought that was interesting nonetheless.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Hmmm. I don’t feed blue buffalo bc I don’t think they are all that great. Too high in fat and phosphorus and my vet told me to more or less stay away bc he has seen more cats than he can count with blockage and urinary problems that were on blue buffalo. If it works for some people; great!!!
That being said I knew something was up when I saw blue buffalo at the supermarket today, as a “ new item”. They had the dry and the wet in the cat food isle. I thought that was interesting nonetheless.

As soon as Blue started advertising, I started hearing complaints from dog people.
10+ years ago when Blue was still new and kind of "under the radar" from advertisements, my dogs went CRAZY for this kibble as a treat. They even preferred it to bits of cooked meats or cheese. THAT was a good kibble!
We actually felt so guilty once when we ran out that we drove to the farm store in a snow storm to get a bag of this stuff!
Now, I'm saddened because a good food with good values and declined advertisement hopped on the bandwagon and the proverbial crap hit the fan, it seems.
There was a quote from the owner or CEO or president or whatever floating around that said something along the lines of "if you want to make a food that will sell, all you need is a good slogan and the food is sold". I dislike that. But I do understand these things can be taken WAY out of context.
For now, we pass.

 

[Daisy6]

I mean, Blue Buffalo was only founded in 2012.

This is not true. The first time I started feeding cats Blue Buffalo was in 2007, the year of the massive pet food recalls, because a company employee spent a day at the pet store closest to my home to answer questions about the products. I asked her if any ingredients are from China. She said, "Nothing from China."

 

[Daisy6]

I agree with white shadow and J jclark . I started feeding my cat Blue Buffalo Wilderness kibble last year and have recently started feeding her a few of the Blue Buffalo wet food cans. I expect a change in formulation soon in order to save General Mills money and increase their profits. Please post if you notice a change.

Dry Blue Wilderness Adult Chicken has not changed at all, according to Daisy. She has been eating it at least a year and still eats it every day without any problems.

 

[BonitaBaby]

Dry Blue Wilderness Adult Chicken has not changed at all, according to Daisy. She has been eating it at least a year and still eats it every day without any problems.

I was thinking GM won't change the formulations for a little while and then will sneakily do it after they've owned Blue Buffalo for a while. I'm in the process of switching my cat back over to Petcurean Now Fresh since I have an 8 lb bag & she won't eat the BLUE Wilderness rabbit kibble anymore, but I had planned to switch her back onto the BLUE Wilderness Indoor Adult Chicken that she was on previously after the Petcurean kibble is finished. I've been trying to give her wet food, but she eats only about an ounce or 2 all day, so I need her to at least eat some kibble for calories. In the future, when I'm ready to switch back to BLUE Wilderness, I'll check to see if the formulation has changed.

 

[BonitaBaby]

But I still have a small sample of Dr. Elsey's kibble to trial on my kitty, so who knows what her next kibble will be.

 

[Daisy6]

Maybe. If they do change the indoor adult chicken recipe and Daisy notices it, she will let me know.

 

[Daisy6]

But I still have a small sample of Dr. Elsey's kibble to trial on my kitty, so who knows what her next kibble will be.

I wish I could get a small sample of Dr. Elsey's!

 

[BonitaBaby]

I wish I could get a small sample of Dr. Elsey's!

You just have to go on the Dr. Elsey's website and go to the "Contact Us" section to complete a request for samples. They also sent a full size 5.5 oz can of turkey pate, which unfortunately was a big NO from my picky cat. I'd ask for the other flavors also like chicken pate. They mailed my package immediately!

 

[tangers40]

.....I also found samples of Dr. Elsey's dry food in bags of their litter!

I kinda laughed when I was pouring litter out of the bag and PLOP! out comes a little sample bag of food! I haven't found any more in my most recent bags, however. Cheese seemed to like their food as well, but it's a bit out of my price range.

 

[duckpond]

right now on the Dr. Elseys website they are having a 40% off sale on the salmon kibble. My guys dont like the salmon, but they do like the chicken a lot. Dr. Elseys site, and chewy have a few good sales during the year. I watch and stock up a few bags

 

[tangers40]

right now on the Dr. Elseys website they are having a 40% off sale on the salmon kibble. My guys dont like the salmon, but they do like the chicken a lot. Dr. Elseys site, and chewy have a few good sales during the year. I watch and stock up a few bags

Thank you, I will keep that in mind the next time I am buying dry food. I just bought Cheese an 11 lb bag of her current food when it was on sale, and as slowly as she is eating it lately, that will last pretty close to forever!

 

[KarenKat]

I kinda laughed when I was pouring litter out of the bag and PLOP! out comes a little sample bag of food!

Oh that's funny! Maybe someone should tell Dr Elsey she skipped the digestion step!

 

[1 bruce 1]

Oh that's funny! Maybe someone should tell Dr Elsey she skipped the digestion step!

 

[Daisy6]

Oh that's funny! Maybe someone should tell Dr. Elsey she skipped the digestion step!

What do you mean Karen?